One dead in rocket hit on Iraqi base hosting US troops

BAGHDAD: At least 10 rockets slammed into a military base in western Iraq hosting US-led coalition troops on Wednesday, security sources said, leaving one civilian contractor dead.

The attack on the sprawling Ain al-Assad base in Iraq’s western desert comes after several weeks of escalating US-Iran tensions on Iraqi soil.

Ain al-Assad hosts both Iraqi forces and US-led coalition troops helping fight the Islamic State group, as well as the unmanned drones the coalition uses to surveil jihadist sleeper cells.

Coalition spokesman Colonel Wayne Marotto confirmed that 10 rockets hit the base at 7:20 am while Iraqi security forces said they had found the platform from which 10 “Grad-type rockets” hit the Ain al-Assad base.

Western security sources told AFP the rockets were Iranianmade Arash models, which are 122mm artillery rockets and heavier than those seen in similar attacks.

“One civilian contractor died of a heart attack during the attack,” a high-level security source told AFP, adding that he could not confirm the contractor’s nationality.

The death marks the third fatality in rocket attacks in recent weeks, after rockets targeting US-led troops in the Kurdish regional capital of Arbil left two people dead.

Days later, more rockets hit a US military contracting company working north of the capital and the US embassy in Baghdad,

but only injuries were reported.

In response, the US carried out an air strike on February 26 against Kataeb Hezbollah, an Iranian-backed Iraqi paramilitary force stationed along the Iraqi-Syrian border.

Washington says it struck on the Syrian side of the border but Kataeb claims one of its fighters who was killed in the bombardment was protecting “Iraqi territory”.

Analysts have pointed to both domestic and international reasons for the sudden rise in tensions. Hardline Iraqi groups have an interest in ramping up the pressure on Prime Minister Mustafa al-Kadhemi following his pledges to rein in rogue militias.

They may also carry a message from Tehran to Washington, which under US President Joe Biden is offering to revive the Iran nuclear deal abandoned by his predecessor Donald Trump in 2018. Iran is demanding the US lift sanctions immediately, while the US wants Iran to move first by returning to previous nuclear commitments.

THE ROCKETS WERE IRAN-MADE ARASH MODELS, WHICH ARE 122MM ARTILLERY ROCKETS AND HEAVIER THAN THOSE SEEN IN SIMILAR ATTACKS, ACCORDING TO SOURCES